Answering the call

John 1 :35-39

35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" 37When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39"Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.



When we hear the stories of the disciples leaving all of their homes, jobs, and lives behind to follow Christ, do you notice one thing that is Missing? Hesitation. All of the people that Jesus invited to follow him said yes without a second thought. Nathaniel might have questioned in a round about way, but when Christ extended the invitation, he took it. These men jumped at the chance to follow Christ. Now you have to remember at this time Christ was not well known. John the Baptist had been professing from the wilderness that Christ was on the way, but Jesus was not a household name. Yet these men followed Him.

The question that I pose is not why did these men jump so quickly, or why did they not ask more questions. My question is why can’t more of us be like that today? People recoil when you want to talk about Christ today. They have to be convinced, they have to be reassured. They have to have all of the whys and the what ifs and the but what abouts answered. There is nothing wrong with questioning, and I do want to be clear about that; what I am point out is that not many people seem to be looking for the answers anymore, and when the answer is given to them it is met with much skepticism.

It reminds me of a story I heard once about a group of cavemen. You see there was a group of Cavemen huddled in a cave, it was cold, it was wet, and it was dark. They were miserable, but they did not know it. This was the only life they knew. They were cold, but to them it was normal. At the mouth of the cave a man appeared, he began arranging something on the ground, and he told the people in the cave I have what you need. The people shouted what is it that you have, and He said what I have will give you light, and warmth, and with that He reached down and lit the wood.

The cavemen shouted, put it out! It hurts our eyes! The man said that it is always painful to leave the darkness but you will become accustomed to it, come closer it is warm, the light will not hurt you. Then one woman drew near, and she said He is right, it is warm, my eyes have adjusted and now I can see. Come closer and see for yourselves. The people shouted NO leave take your fire with you we will all lose our sight.

The woman look at the man and said why do they not want to come to the light? And the man said the darkness is all they have known, they do not want to leave. Even though it is warm, they would rather be cold the woman asked, and the man said yes. The woman told the man I don’t want to be away from my family. The man answered, then go to them. The woman said but I cannot bear to leave the light. The man reached down, took a stick that was on fire, and handed it to her. Here He said then take the light to them, and show them that the light is good.

We are a lot like those Cavemen today. We are so comfortable in what we know that even the thought of changing freaks us out. The change might promise wonderful new opportunities, that we want and need, but we are blinded in the darkness. We all need to step to the fire and grab a stick. Not only will we have light to travel by, but also we will have the proof in our hand for others to see. The light is good!


Peace,
Brian